CHAPTER One Hundred and Twenty- Five

　　Present Day

　　They had been tortured, by Verina or by another, Yelena did not want to know, but both bards occupied the same cell, and both were tended to by Eustice and Nareena. The siren cried out upon seeing Oberyan and, the moment the cell door was opened, rushed to his side.

　　“Do not look too closely, My Queen,” Verina advised as Yelena stepped within.

　　It was the smell that impressed itself on Yelena most as she entered the cell and went to the filthy pile of blankets on which Elorshin lay. Beyond the stink of piss, sweat and filth, the smell of burnt flesh and blood, there was a smell that held a taste that lingered like poison on the back of her tongue and turned her stomach.

　　Eustice had a bowl of water which she had been using to sooth Elorshin’s many wounds.

　　“My Queen,” she whispered as Yelena knelt at Elorshin’s side. “Please grant him a merciful death.”